Things to do in Leeds with kids
The Armouries with its jousting and live demonstrations, Tropical World at Roundhay and the Thackray medicine museum carry a family day; Kirkstall Abbey is the free run-around.
11 picks that fit, best first. The order follows the live forecast and the time of day.
Royal Armouries
Leeds Dock
The national collection of arms and armour, with live combat demonstrations, free, on the dock.
Rain is due later, and this is under cover. Free.
- Free
- Indoors
- Half a day
- Good with kids
Roundhay Park and Tropical World
Roundhay
Seven hundred acres of lakes, woods and lawns, with a tropical glasshouse of butterflies and meerkats.
Go now, before the rain arrives. Free.
- Free
- Outdoors
- Half a day
- Good with kids
Park free; Tropical World cheap
Kirkstall Abbey
Kirkstall
The ruins of a Cistercian abbey in a riverside park, free, with a museum of Victorian streets over the road.
Go now, before the rain arrives. Free.
- Free
- Outdoors
- Under 2 hours
- Good with kids
Leeds City Museum
Millennium Square
The Leeds Tiger, an Egyptian mummy and the story of the city, free, in a converted institute.
Rain is due later, and this is under cover. Free.
- Free
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
- Good with kids
Elland Road stadium tour
Beeston
Behind the scenes at Leeds United, from the dressing rooms to the dugout.
Rain is due later, and this is under cover.
- £10 to £25
- In and out
- Under 2 hours
- Fine in rain
- Good with kids
Thackray Museum of Medicine
Harehills
A recreated Victorian slum, a surgical theatre and a lot of interactive gore, for older children especially.
Rain is due later, and this is under cover.
- £10 to £25
- Indoors
- Half a day
- Good with kids
Harewood House
Harewood
A great Georgian house with Chippendale furniture, a bird garden and Capability Brown grounds.
- Over £25
- In and out
- A full day
- Good with kids
Temple Newsam
Whitkirk
A Tudor-Jacobean house in a Capability Brown park, with a rare-breeds farm children love.
- Under £10
- In and out
- Half a day
- Good with kids
Park free; house and farm cheap
Meanwood Valley Trail
Meanwood
A wooded valley walk from the edge of the city out to the countryside, with a farm and a pub on the way.
Go now, before the rain arrives. Free.
- Free
- Outdoors
- Half a day
- Good with kids
Trinity Leeds
Briggate
A glass-roofed shopping centre in the middle of town, with a food hall and a cinema.
Rain is due later, and this is under cover. Free.
- Free
- Indoors
- Half a day
- Good with kids
Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills
Armley
Once the biggest woollen mill in the world, now a museum of textiles, printing and a tiny cinema.
Rain is due later, and this is under cover.
- Under £10
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
- Good with kids
Good to know
What is there to do in Leeds with children?
The Armouries with its jousting and live demonstrations, Tropical World at Roundhay and the Thackray medicine museum carry a family day; Kirkstall Abbey is the free run-around. This list keeps 11 places that work with kids and moves the indoor ones up when it is raining.
Which of these are free for families?
Look for the "Free" label. Most cities have at least a couple of free museums and a big park on this list, which makes a cheap day out easy to put together.